Big data heaven

Friday 7 March 2014 2:35pm

Badsha Chandra, Masters' student candidate

It’s the age of big data, says award-winning Otago Master of Business Data Science student Badsha Chandra, whose passion for gleaning intelligence from data brought him from India to “heavenly” Dunedin.

After completing his Electrical and Electronics Engineering degree at Birla Institute of Technology (BITS) in Ranchi, India, Badsha spent 13 years working in the Bangalore city software product development industry. While working for leading firms such as Hewlett-Packard and NetApp, his interest in data science grew.

”Specifically, in the areas of business analytics machine learning, natural language processing and artificial intelligence,” he explains.

"We are fortunate to work for industry projects as well as key research projects in academia, which is primarily due to the efforts of my supervisor"

“Though I took several online courses… they were not true substitutes for my primary goal to pursue a one-year Masters course from a top global university, and Otago is one of the best. The Information Science department and my supervisors are very supportive and transparent in all aspects.”

Badsha’s seeks to “contribute toward the vast landscape of finding intelligence from data to help business perform at its best at present, as well keeping an eye on the future by right utilisation of business analytics methodologies, which operate on current and historical data”.

”We are fortunate to work for industry projects as well as key research projects in academia, which is primarily due to the efforts of my supervisor, Information Science Associate Professor Peter Whigham, and department,” he says. “This gives us a great platform to have real world experience.”

NZ Excellence Award ‘great motivator’

“My mentor from Edwise International in Bangalore forwarded the application link for the NZEA and suggested that I apply for it. [The award] means a lot to me and it’s a grand motivation for a professional-turned-student like me… undergoing university life for the second time.”

The award will no doubt add to the Badsha’s enjoyment of his year in Dunedin, which he describes as “a heavenly place”. He’ll be able to share that regard with his wife and daughter when they join him later this year.

“My wife, parents and in-laws, and my former employers at NetApp Inc. have been immensely supportive. Without their support my dream to pursue a Masters in Data Science wouldn't have been possible. They deserve all credit.”